Abstract
Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings indicate that shoulder apprehension is more complex than a pure mechanical problem of the shoulder, showing a direct modification in functional brain networks associated with motor inhibition and emotional regulation. The current study extends these findings by investigating further structural alterations in patients with shoulder apprehension compared to controls. 14 aged patients with shoulder apprehension (27.3 ± 2.0 years) and 10 matched healthy controls (29.6 ± 1.3 years) underwent clinical and fMRI examination including fMRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Tract-based spatial statistics procedure was used to analyze white matter (WM) alterations. Functional images were analyzed investigating resting state network connectivity. DTI results were correlated with different shoulder clinical scores and functional connectivity networks. Fractional anisotropy (FA), representing white matter integrity, is increased in the left internal capsule and partially in the thalamus in patients compared to controls. Moreover, FA correlates negatively with simple shoulder test (SST) scores (p < .05) and positively with a functional connectivity network qualitatively replicating previous results (p < .01). This study extends previous findings, showing that in addition to functional changes, structural white matter changes are also present in patients with shoulder apprehension.
Highlights
Results from tract based spatial statistic (TBSS) analyses revealed a significant increase in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left internal capsule and partially in the thalamus in patients compared to controls (Fig. 1)
Our results show that none of the confidence intervals after bootstrapping analyses included 0
The most important finding of this study is the presence of increased WM connectivity in the left internal capsule and in the thalamus in patients with shoulder apprehension compared to controls
Summary
Results from tract based spatial statistic (TBSS) analyses revealed a significant increase in fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left internal capsule and partially in the thalamus in patients compared to controls (Fig. 1). Significant negative correlations were found between TBSS results and Simple shoulder test (SST)[8] scores (r =−.25, p
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